Given the title of the show it is unsurprising birth scenes feature heavily in ‘s long running period drama While the cast always make it look incredibly accurate on screen, Sister Veronica star Rebecca Gethings has revealed it is far more difficult behind the scenes.
Speaking exclusively to and other media in advance of the show’s return for season 14 she intimated she still finds those scenes nerve wracking despite being on the show since season 12.
“It’s the technical stuff I find a bit nerve wracking still, because they grease the baby and then with the gloves and the grease and the sticky blood…
“Then they give you the umbilical cord that you’ve got to hold over the belly button. It’s popping everywhere,” she admitted.
“So it’s the choreography in it that I find difficult. The babies are very professional. It’s me trying to not to drop them (that isn’t),” she laughed.
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Rebecca Gethings, who plays Sister Veronica in Call the Midwife, has opened up on birth scenes (Image: BBC)
Despite the difficulties Rebecca and her castmates all confessed they love having the babies around. Linda Basset, who plays Nurse Crane described it as “joyous”.
“It’s amazing to work with babies,” she said. “It changes everyone on sales. We’re not a very big ego company, we’re a team. But if a baby’s on set, there’s no ego, there’s nothing, because everyone’s just looking after the baby and making sure it’s warm and making sure it’s happy.
“It’s just joyous to do those things and we all love it. And the mothers are always there, of course.
“I mean, it’s extraordinary. I don’t know if I could do it (allow her baby on set), but they do and so we try and make sure they have a good time, a good experience,” she continued.
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Sister Veronica actress Rebecca Gethings admitted a lot of coreography goes into birth scenes (Image: BBC)
“And their babies certainly have a good experience. They have to be covered in muk, but it’s warm, it’s all warm oil and lovely scents that are safe obviously.
“And we have Sarita there, who’s our midwife, a real midwife. We make sure everything’s safe all the time. And as November comes on and we get freezing cold, the baby room is warm.
“I did a birth in an ambulance, so that we had to be outside, and the baby was sort of smuggled from the warmth of the back room into it [the ambulance],” she laughed.